8.03.2006

Crime Database

A private citizen in DC finally did for free what the city never bothered to do for years (despite pleas and protestations): The citizen build a comprehensive database of crimes committed in the city. Can you imagine how many more criminals would be caught and prosecuted if we had this for every municipality in the US? You could display the data however you wanted, determine trends and anticipate where you needed to deploy police (in both time and space) to curb crime. This is an idea that is long past its time. If anyone wants to point it out to their mayor and chief of police, please do so and here's the kicker: The tool would save loads of time and money, because it would make police work more efficient. Any city council and mayor's office would be behind it if it would save money. Plus, you could make connections about crimes committed across the US, graph trends, connect with cities implementing effective strategies and read police reports, incarceration status and contextual statistics as well as link to news coverage.